ICE Changes Course, Declines To Deport COVID-Positive Haitians

A deportation flight with sick immigrants potentially endangers fellow airline passengers and people in Haiti.

HuffPost, By Isabel Macdonald, 05/11/2020

UPDATE: 7 p.m. — In the face of growing opposition in Haiti to deportations from the U.S., Immigration and Customs Enforcement appears to have changed its mind at the last minute about deporting Haitians who say they recently tested positive for the coronavirus at Pine Prairie, a Louisiana immigrant detention center.

Passengers on the scheduled ICE deportation flight, which arrived at around 1 p.m. Monday in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, did not include any of the five people listed on the flight manifest who had recently tested positive for COVID-19 at Pine Prairie, according to Haitian government sources cited by the Miami Herald. Moreover, while there were originally 100 passengers listed on the flight manifest, just 50 people were actually deported Monday, according to these government sources.

A panel comprising leading scientists in Haiti recommended Sunday that the Haitian government halt all deportations during the pandemic.

PREVIOUSLY: The U.S. plans to deport Haitians on Monday who say they have tested positive for COVID-19 ― a move that would put both fellow airline passengers and people in their homeland at risk.